Needham & Company LLC Raises Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target to $280.00

by · The Markets Daily

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by Needham & Company LLC to $280.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 15.64% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $279.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI set a $240.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $270.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.81.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Ciena

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $242.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.16 billion, a PE ratio of 249.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $248.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%. Analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,884,992.08. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,227,143,000 after acquiring an additional 103,199 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ciena by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Ciena by 10.4% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 35.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,286,000 after purchasing an additional 702,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the third quarter valued at $292,310,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

(Get Free Report)

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.

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